This invention relates to a pet food product for use in repartitioning nitrogen and increasing colonic blood flow in dogs to promote intestinal health, and more particularly to a process involving a pet food composition containing fermentable fibers.
Many dogs suffer from poor health due to renal insufficiency. It is desirable to reduce the stress placed on the kidneys of dogs with this condition. One factor that contributes to such stress is nitrogen-containing metabolites in the blood.
Nitrogen in the blood is primarily removed by the kidneys. Weakened kidneys can be overworked attempting to remove nitrogen from the blood, resulting in renal failure. Therefore, a need exists for a method of reducing the amount of nitrogen in the blood of dogs without using the kidneys.
In extreme cases, medical devices such as dialysis machines can be used to remove nitrogen in the blood. However, in the case of dogs this approach is usually cost prohibitive. Also, most cases of renal insufficiency are less extreme, therefore, less invasive techniques are desirable. Particularly desirable are low cost techniques that are easy to administer.
Some research has been done in the area of nitrogen repartitioning. This involves using bodily methods of waste removal other than the kidneys to eliminate nitrogen from the blood. Younes et al., FASEB J. 8:A186 (1994) (Abstract) have experimented with using a fermentable fiber-containing diet to increase urea disposal in the rat cecum. However, those experiments were limited to the rat which has a different metabolism than the dog. For example, the dog has a nonsacculated intestine as opposed to the sacculated intestine in the rat; the dog has a nonfunctional cecum as opposed to a functional cecum in the rat; and the dog does not practice coprophagy as does the rat.
Therefore, a need still exists for a low cost, easy to administer method of reducing the amount of nitrogen in the blood of dogs without using the kidneys. There is also a need for a method for increasing blood flow to the colon of a dog to enhance and promote intestinal health.